Aid programme 'must focus on slums'

Britain's international aid programme should give much greater priority to helping the growing number of people living in the mega-slums of the developing world, a report has said.

For the first time in human history, a majority of the world's population - more than 3.3 billion people - now lives in urban areas, thanks to the rapid swelling in the size of cities, particularly in Africa, over the past five years.

But a House of Commons committee accused the Department for International Development (DFID) of "downgrading" its support for urban poverty at a time when more and more of the world's poor are moving from the countryside to live in slums.

The DFID has reduced the visibility of its urban programmes and its in-house expertise on urban issues has become "too fragmented", said the report by the Commons International Development Committee.

It called for the department to publish a new urban poverty strategy, targeting more aid cash at measures to upgrade slum housing and improve basic services like water, sanitation, healthcare and transport in the sprawling "mega-cities" of the poor world.

Committee chairman Malcolm Bruce said: "The last five years have seen rapid urbanisation, almost all of which has happened in developing countries. In 2008 we reached the point where there are more people living in cities than in rural areas.

"We are not convinced that DFID is doing enough to help developing countries, and particularly African countries, to address the specific challenges of urban poverty, which include access to basic services such as housing, health, education, transport, employment and water and sanitation."

A DFID spokesman said: "The Department for International Development is committed to lifting the world's poorest people out of poverty, wherever they live.

"The report acknowledges 'that some of DFID's work to address urban poverty is impressive and is making a noticeable contribution towards meeting the Millennium Development Goal... on slum upgrading'.

"We have already committed £300 million of support to people living in urban areas and our projects include the Community-led Infrastructure Financing Facility (Cliff). This was praised by the committee, and has already helped thousands of households in urban areas in India, Kenya and the Philippines."